Dear love,

Thank you for being endearingly REAL LIFE, which in my case, includes some sweetly awkward and RANDOM moments that bring lots of laughter and fun memories.

Truly, love, I’m grateful for the fact that for me, a perfect first date for consisted of running late, hugging a tree, swinging on a swing that I wasn’t sure I should be swinging on, touching the turf of a football field, sharing a piece of gum that had been in my pocket for at least 4 months and learning the dictionary definition of “murder”–just in case I had been wondering about it. Oh, and also getting a short glimpse into the history of the Bible.

Love, you slipped into my life nonchalantly in sarcastic banter and ridiculous amounts of puns and bad jokes (from both participants). You were quick to make me blush the first time he told me I was beautiful, and I LITERALLY SQUIRMED over those first few exchanges.

Love, you were sweetly awkward and on-so-real once again when I got violently ill and THREW UP on my second date, in an awesome display of awkwardness forgot (and still sometimes forget) how to hold THE BOY’S hand, elbowed THE BOY in the face, got poked in the eye by THE BOY, had my car overheat in the middle of the city, and had a random muscle spasm that made me CRY in PAIN on his first visit. WIN, SELF, WIN.

But in all seriousness, thank you for reminding me that you are not a fantasy with an idealistic “Prince Charming,” who really would be the most annoying and uninteresting person to be with. Instead of some strange romantic ideal crafted from THE TRIFECTA OF TERRIBLE, I get a real-live person with strengths, weaknesses, an insane amount of patience and this innate ability to say the most unpredictable things at the most unexpected times leading to immediate hiccup amounts of laughter.

You’re not a storybook. You’re not a fairytale.

Sometimes there are sparks like no other. Sometimes you’re just COMFORTABLE. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by THE BOY’S cuteness. And sometimes I am just delighted to hang out with my best friend. In some ways, you’re not what I thought you would be, love. But you are just what you should be: REAL.